


Obsessive

by OTTSTF



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, It scares ol' Chiefie, Mike and El are obsessed with each-other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-21 04:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14908377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OTTSTF/pseuds/OTTSTF
Summary: Mike and El are obsessed with each-other.Hopper tries to give them space, but it worries him.Mike struggles to understand whyhedoesn't.Also known as: I suck at summaries.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So...  
> This was supposed to be a one-shot.  
> Well, so much for that.
> 
> Chapter count may change, but I don't see why it would.

From the day they reunited, everyone noticed how much time Mike had started spending with El. Truth be told, if Mike could have his way, he’d never leave her in the first place.  
Whether they were going out as a party, visiting her as a party, or, much to his favour, doing either of those together _without_ the rest of the party; he wanted to be spending every breathing second with her.

To his delight, Hopper seemed to be allowing this, most of the time. The three of them agreed that it’d be a good idea for El to get to know the outside world  _before_ her year of laying low was officially over, just so she didn’t seem to act as if she’d been alienated from the world her entire life (which, of course, she unfortunately had been). 

Hopper, being the good father to a telekinetic-superhero-teenage-girl he’d suddenly became a few months ago, couldn’t help but find himself worrying whenever she was out. He’d repeatedly try to remind himself that she’s never alone; she’s always with at least one person, and in any case, can absolutely hold her own if things were to ever go south (please,  _please,_ never let that happen).

Hopper, to the temporary surprise of the party, had gotten  _himself_ (as well as El) a SuperCom, which he’d keep on and near him at all times. He’d instructed them all very clearly that they are only to use the channel he’d be listening to for emergencies. They are never to speak  _about_ El through the radios, and so they’d assigned a tap pattern to signal danger to Hopper for use in the case they cannot risk speaking.

Thankfully, the radio by his side has remained entirely silent ever since he’d gotten it. This has helped boost his confidence regarding El’s outdoor adventures, also he feels he shouldn’t be panicking as much as he does still.

Nonetheless, he allows her out again when her oh-so-beloved Mike calls, practically begging at his knees to be permitted to take El out, just them, to the new mall which had opened recently.

“Why on Earth would you want to take her to a mall?” Hopper asks, genuinely curious.

“Well, there’s a lot of things to do there!” Mike states, feeling it should be obvious.  
“I they’ve got a new arcade inside there somewhere, so that could be cool. But I also wanted to… uhm…” 

Hopper raises an eyebrow at Mike’s sudden stall. He says nothing, watching as the boy gulps and ducks his head in a shy retreat.

“I’ve been saving some spare money up. I wanted to take her shopping; let her get anything she wants.”

Hopper fails to contain his amused smirk. “Is that so?”

“Please?” the boy practically begs, as if Hopper has been disallowing these adventures previously.

“Kid, when did I last say no?”

Mike’s suddenly fully alive again.  
“ You mean I can take her?”

At that, Hopper rolls his eyes, about to answer sarcastically. This is prevented by the sudden appearance of the girl in question, swinging her bedroom door open, practically running past him.

“Mike!” she near-enough dives into his arms. Mike prepares himself for the sudden impact by taking a step back and planting his feet, having learned his lesson the hard way a few times more than he’s willing to admit.

“El!” he huffs a laugh as he catches her. “How are you?”

“Better now.” she doesn’t miss a beat as she leans her head against his chest, sighing as the comfort he brings.

“Jesus Christ, guys, you saw each-other _literally_ yesterday.” Hopper huffs, not quite believing the sight in front of him.

“Too long.” El informs him straight, earning another small laugh from Mike, as he once again finds himself in awe of the fact that she feels the same way about _him_ that he does about her.

Hopper rolls his eyes, deciding to not add to the burning fire they fuel. Instead he turns and walks away, tossing a “yeah, you can take her out. Just be careful.” their way before slamming himself back into his chair at the dining table.

“We’re always careful.” El reminds him, now rolling _her_ eyes at him. “You should stop worrying so much.”

“Sorry for caring about you.” Hopper shrugs.

_Damnit,_ El hears in her head,  _finally_ releasing her hold on Mike to walk over to Hopper.  
“Don’t be sorry.” she  kisses the top of his head.  
“ I love you, dad.”

That never fails to warm his heart.  
“Love you too, kid.” he smiles upward to her. “See you later.”

“Wait, Hop…” Mike suddenly speaks up again.

“Yeah?”

“I was… wondering if you’d mind me staying the night.” he asks hesitantly.

Hopper gazes at him suspiciously.  
“Why?”

“Well… I just… wanna get away from all the crap going on at home.”

At that, Hopper drops his guard immediately, and nods. He knows full well of the tension in the Wheeler house as of recent, and therefore welcomes the kid any time he needs to get away from it.

“Okay, yeah. Just make sure to tell your mother, or at least Nancy, yeah?”

“I will, chief. Thank you.”

“No problem, kid. Go on, have fun.”

With that, he smiles back at the man, nodding his head before taking El’s hand, leading her out.

“Bye, dad!” she calls once again.

“See you later, kid!” he calls back at her.


	2. Chapter 2

El’s head doesn’t stay focused for even a second as she flicks her gaze all over her surroundings. Mike can’t help but find himself staring at her face as she takes in all the stores, all the areas that await her.

Eventually, her eyes land on him, and he practically jumps out of his skin, not expecting it. For a brief second, he worries that she might be weirded out by his staring, but…

“This is… _huge_!” she comments; the joy radiating from her, effortlessly warming Mike’s heart.

A smile is practically slapped onto Mike’s face, as he loves seeing El excited. The fact that coming here was  _his_ idea onlt helps to boost his happiness.  
“You see anything that interests you?”

She takes one last glance over the various stores around them, before her eyes land on a rather colourful storefront, with various designs of stuffed animals displayed in the windows.

Mike follows her gaze, and finds himself smirking. A stuffed animal of some kind is exactly the kind of thing he wanted to get her. Sure, she has her lion back at the cabin, but the more the merrier. Plus, this would be  _new_ , and  _from him_ . 

“You want one?” he asks her. Her head snaps to him.

“Can I!?” she suddenly seems all the more excited.

“El, you can have _anything_ you want, as long as I can afford it.” he informs her, smiling all the while.

“Thank you!” she near enough shouts, yanking him into a hug, forcing his mouth to hurt as his smile tries, somehow, to grow even further.

“You deserve everything, El. _Everything._ ”

Eventually releasing him, she sighs, and leans her head against his shoulder, prompting him to snake an arm around her back.  
“Thank you.” she repeats. “So much.”

  


It doesn’t take her long to find the perfect stuffed companion. No longer interested in animal-like toys, she picks out a toy which is baby-like, with black hair framing its face, solely because “it reminds me of you.”, which causes Mike’s heart to explode inside his ribcage.

As well as the toy, they end up buying her two new music albums and a book. Mike’s about to speak, before he’s beaten to it as El spots one last storefront of interest.  
“Mike, look!” she points.

His eyes following her indication, he finds what the party had wanted to search for some time: the mall’s new arcade.  
“Oh, cool!” he reacts excitedly. “We’ll have to let the guys know we found it.”

She looks at him seriously for a moment.

“What?” he questions her judging gaze.

“You don’t want to go in there now?” she asks, gesturing towards the arcade with a slight head twitch.

“I- I haven’t got much money left, El. I promised to let _you_ spend it _all_.” he reminds her.

“Well this is how I want to spend the rest.” she demands bluntly. “You’ve bought me a lot. You should have some fun too.”

“I am having fun!” Mike insists. “Seeing you happy is the most fun I can ever have.”

El’s head tilts, as if to call Mike out on just saying such a thing. She can see he means it though, and it tugs at her heart.

“Come on.” she practically yanks him towards the newfound arcade once she recovers.  
“I want to beat you at Dig Dug.”

Smirking like a goofball, Mike allows her to drag him as she pleases.

  


El, much to Mike’s amazement and genuine pleasure, quite frankly kicks his ass at Dig Dug. Upon questioning how she knows show much about the game, she explains how she’d learned a lot by watching him over their year apart, which included observing these games; how they work, what the objective of each of them is. Following their visit to the arcade, Mike pulls them into a simple, nice-looking diner, where Mike buys them a burger meal each.

They’re both pretty much stargazing into each-other’s eyes as they have their meal, sharing the occasional giggle as they temporarily snap out of their trance, only to fall back into it seconds later.

“Thank you for coming out with me, El.” Mike eventually breaks the silence.  
“This is… honestly the most fun I’ve had for a while.”

“ _You’re thanking me?_ ” she questions.  
“You’re the one spending all your money on me, Mike. Thank _you._ ”

Mike giggles slightly at that, blushing slightly as he thinks about his response.  
“There’s nothing else I’d rather spend it on.” he tells her honestly, his head shyly ducking as he does so.

Once again, El finds herself blushing as her stomach becomes home to the Earth’s entire population of butterflies. Letting instinct take over, she plants a quick kiss, pulling back to see one of her favourite Mike faces, before leaning herself into his side, her head laying onto his shoulder. His head automatically tilts to lay against her hair.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Well._  
>  This got huge and emotional pretty damn quick...

They return to the cabin later on in the day, thankful that Hopper had already had the courtesy to put the multiple fans they’d collected to use. The heat outside is nice, but a wonderful breeze upon stepping inside is nothing if not welcoming.

“Hey, kiddos.” Hopper welcomes them, before his eyes land on the bag that Mike is carrying.  
“Christ, Wheeler. You sure none of that is stolen?”

“As much as my wallet would love that… no. I’m sure.” Mike jokes back. “I was expecting to buy more, but she wanted to spend some time at the new arcade, too.”

Hopper hums in acknowledgement.  
“I guess you’ll all be going there more often then.” he more states than asks.

“I hope so.” Mike agrees.

“It was fun.” El too nods, taking her bag from Mike to place it upon the dining table.  
“I got a new friend.” she starts off showing the stuffed toy. Hopper immediately has to hold back a slight laugh as he recognises why she would’ve picked such a thing.

“Mini-Mike, huh?” he smirks between them, prompting Mike to blush and El to giggle, nodding her head.

“I like that. Mini-Mike.” El declares the toy’s official name.

“Got some competition, Wheeler.” Hopper smirks at the boy.

“What ever will I do?” Mike manages to joke through the heat in his cheeks, prompting a huffed laugh from the man.

  


El set aside the two new vinyl albums aside to listen to later. For now, they both retreat to the sofa, leaning into each-other as they watch whatever the TV decides to throw at them whilst eating some good old vanilla ice cream.

They stay in this position for a while; finding themselves occasionally glancing at the other, more often ending up staring for longer than what would probably be considered healthy. They can’t help themselves each time they feel an urge to share a quick kiss, to which Hopper’s eyes are nearly ready to roll straight out of their sockets.  
Neither of them care about his amusement or annoyance, though. They’re both the happiest they’ve ever been. Mike’s sure he’s the happiest person on Earth at this very moment; perhaps for all time.

The look on either of them when the other gets up for any reason; a bathroom break, a drink; is both absolute hilarity and actually kinda worrying to Hopper. They’re literally just a few steps apart yet they look as if they’re saying goodbye for months.

Hopper wants to be happy for them. He really does, but he can’t help himself but feel worried. They’re thirteen, going on fourteen. They shouldn’t be _this_ attached, right? They’re kids; they should be taking things slowly. They’ve got their entire lives ahead of them to fall into romance.

But yet, here we are. They’re holding each-other tight, as if the slightest slip would mean losing each-other forever. The smiles on their faces as they lean against each-other are huge, and a bit infectious if Hopper _must_ admit.

  


It’s as they’re going to bed, at _stupid o’clock in Hopper’s opinion_ , that the man finally decides to speak to them about their _attachment._ As El’s about to retreat to her room, they share a final embrace, and, of course, a kiss, which, being their last of the night, lingers for a moment longer than their odd pecks throughout the day.

“Okay… guys.” Hopper summons their attention when they separate. “Come here for a moment.” he beacons them over to the dining table. They glance at each-other as if to question what this could be about, but follow his direction anyhow.

“What’s wrong?” El asks him as they sit, knowing his expression. He’s about to go into some conversation that’s on his mind, and she knows it.

“Nothing’s… _wrong_ , to be precise. Just, kinda worried, I guess you could say.” the man answers.

“About what?” she insists.

“You two.”

Mike looks at the man as if he’d just told him Christmas is cancelled.  
“What’s bad about us?” he rapidly questions, clearly already worked up by the mere mentioning of the two of them.

“God, calm down, Wheeler! It’s just, I watch you two and whilst I’m happy for you both, _really_ happy, y’know, you deserve to be happy with one another; but at the same time I’m starting to think… you’re both a bit _too_ attached.”

Mike’s eyebrows raise. El’s furrow.  
“Why do you think that?” she asks, before Mike can retaliate.

“Have you seen yourselves? You’re pouting the second you need to separate, even if it’s just to grab a drink. You hold onto each-other as if the slightest slip would mean the end of it. It’s… it kinda seems like you’re obsessed over each-other.”

Mike doesn’t wait to speak up, this time.

“ _You_ should know _why_ we’re like that.” the boy snaps.

“I… kinda don’t, honestly.” the man tells him, which simply makes Mike all the more angry.

“Are you serious?”  
“Are you seriously forgetting the whole _year_ you kept us apart? The year apart after she vanished, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought she was dead?”

“Michael...”

“After she’d saved all our lives three times; _my_ life four; only to lose the ability to thank her for it all?”

Hopper gives up trying to speak; seeing that Mike’s absolutely about to go on for a while. He regrets bringing this up at all now. El’s looking at Mike somewhat worriedly, as if she’s worried he might get up and start beating the man up like he had when they’d reunited.

“I _promised._ I promised that she could live with us, to have a normal life. We’d go to the Snow Ball, and she’d be family. I meant it all. I was ready to do _anything_ to give her that. Then those _bastards_ came along, tried to kill us to get her back, so she had to stress herself to kill them first. Then the blood summoned the Demogorgon and that was it. We would’ve been dead if she’d not sacrificed herself.”

“Mike…” El tries to calm him down, but it doesn’t work.

“You know, if she didn’t throw me back against the wall then, I was ready to push her back and let it take me? _That_ is how much I wanted to save her. She’d done so much for us that I wasn’t even thinking about myself then. Because I understood. She’d been kept locked up, all her life. And when she breaks out, she gets a week of hell before having to give herself to that _thing_ to save us _again?_ ”

He takes a breath, although his anger doesn’t subside in the slightest.

“No. I was ready to give _myself_ up. I’d lived a normal life. I got to experience a childhood. She hadn’t. I was ready to give myself up so she could finally be free of the torture. I don’t care if you think that’s stupid, or obsessive, or whatever. The point is, I just wanted to give her a peaceful life, even if that meant losing mine.”

“Mike…” El tries again. This time, he does turn his focus to him, and the sight of her face, smiling but sad, a tear rolling down her cheek, breaks his anger immediately. Their hands link, holding tight. He slowly lets his attention head back to the man once again, who’s expression stands out as shocked, bewildered. This raw emotion, this anger, these words, should never be coming from a child his age.

Mike sighs, preparing himself now that the anger has subsided.  
“Then she vanished. She’d taken the Demogorgon with her, and vanished into thin air. My chances of ever giving her the life she deserved followed right with her. I was so… so fuh…” he turns the swear which nearly slips into a sigh, although Hopper lets it slide, not even acknowledging it. El’s hand tightens its hold against his, which he appriciates.

“I thought I’d never see her again. I’d never get the chance to thank her, or support her, or anything like that. She’d been my friend for a week, and she’d saved me three freaking times, just for it to all end there.”

“But you still called.” El pipes in, snapping his attention to her.

“Y-yeah… yeah, I did.”

“How did you know?” she asks.

“I… didn’t _know._ I just hoped. I ran back to the class room before we got dragged out. You vanished, right? So I went looking for ashes or something like that, but there was nothing. Nothing at all, so I guess… I guess I kinda thought that taking out the Demogorgon might’ve got you stuck in the Upside Down some how.”

“It did.” she nods her head. “Woke up there. Looked for you, found the small gate home.”

Mike sighs, nodding his head.  
“It was the fact that there were no ashes. That gave me hope. All I could remember was how you’d channeled Will whilst _he_ was in the Upside Down, so I hoped you could do the reverse too, and hear me while you were there. And it killed me, El. Every day, not knowing if you were okay. Worrying that you could’ve been hurt, or trapped. Scared and alone. I hated it, El. It was driving me crazy.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” El turns to him fully, adding her other hand into the hold of his, rubbing the top of his softly. “It hurt me watching you. I wanted to tell you, to give you the small sign you asked for, but… I couldn’t.”

“It wasn’t safe…”

“No.” Hopper objects Mike’s comment of unsafe circumstance. “It wasn’t safe at the beginning, but after a while it just… it just became selfishness.” the man admits. “I was scared of losing her. Not only to anyone that could’ve still been looking for her, but… but in the sense that she might’ve not wanted to live with me any more.”

Mike’s eyebrows raise once again, displaying the curiosity that both he and El share.

The man sighs.  
“I’m sorry. I really am, Mike. Both of you. I kept you apart for so long and… god, if I knew how much pain you were in, I would’ve told you, at least…”

“I _told_ you.” El combats. “Nearly every day, I told you how upset Mike was. But you would always say the same thing. _You’re the last thing he needs right now._ Every time!” she looks angry herself, now.

“El, I thought…”

“He would get better? After two hundred days, you thought he would still get better?”

Hopper sighs, knowing this is a losing battle; and rightly so.  
“I was wrong; I know that.”

Mike tries to calm El down the way she’d just done for him; his thumb forming circles on the back of her hand. It seems to do the trick.

“Every morning now, I wake up and have to reassure myself that it’s real; she’s back and she’s safe. Sometimes I wake up, and I just start panicking, thinking that everything was just a dream and she’s still missing.”

Mike spares one final glance at her, before finishing his rant.  
“ _That_ is why I’m obsessed with her. I can’t bear losing her again, even just being around her is relieving. So yeah, you’re right. I _am_ stupidly obsessed with her; but that will never change.”

Hopper nods his head, acklowleding that fact, which he now completely understands.

“Being with you makes me happy, too.” El tells Mike.  
“I know you wanted to help me, and you did. You _do_. You were the first person to _really_ care about me, so I’ll always be obsessed with you.”

Mike feels his heart wrench at that; the thought that _she_ feels the same about _him_ that he does her, never ceases to amaze him.

  


Following their tense discussion, Hopper doesn’t say anything as they once again embrace and share a kiss before heading to sleep. Hopper observes as El sleeps that she’s wearing the biggest smile he’s ever seen on her.  
Perhaps letting all of that bottled emotion out with Mike did them both good.

Either way, they’re happy now.  
Obsessed with each-other, but if that is the source of their happiness, then so be it. Because now, Hopper understands. He knows he was wrong; that Mike had always needed her from the beginning.

So now he’ll do everything under his power to ensure they’re never separated again. They’ll both remain the happiest people on Earth forever, if he has anything to do with it.

It’s all they deserve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope the chapters lived up to your expectations. This last one was kinda difficult to be honest, but at the same time, my fingers kinda started to run away.

**Author's Note:**

> Opinions always help.  
> Ideas are always welcome.  
> Comments in general are always loved.
> 
> Thank you. ♥


End file.
